Fantasia 2010: [REC]2 Review

[Still touring the festival circuit, [REC]2 is going to give the great sound system at the Hall Theatre a work out. Here is Todd's take from TIFF to remind you how solid the film is.]

Is Spanish horror flick [REC]2 the out and out masterpiece that
fans of the original were hoping for? Not quite, no, a complete
disinterest in any sort of character development somewhat limiting the
film's ultimate success. But that said, directors Paco Plaza and Jaume
Balaguero have done what very few before them have managed: They've
returned to the world that they created, significantly expanded on the
mythology of their original creation in ways that surprise and shock
while still remaining totally true to the spirit of the original, and
they've done it all while kicking ass. Lots of ass.

[REC]2
picks up roughly fifteen minutes after the end of the first film, the
tenemant building that was the scene of what appeared to be a zombie
outbreak now completely sealed off, a heavily armed SWAT team being sent
in to accompany and protect a doctor as he tries to collect samples and
information vital to determine what happened and how to prevent its
spread. Things go wrong, of course. Very wrong.

The great
success of the original [REC] lay in how effectively it built
tension, ramping up mood and tone and sympathy for its characters before
completely pulling the rug out from under them in a string of
horrifying and unexpected attacks. But that approach can only really
work once - when you know it's coming, you just want to get there - and
thankfully Plaza and Balaguero are fully aware of this fact. There is
no slow build or spread of infection here - this film is about armed men
walking in to a confined space already well populated with the
infection and things are going to get ugly. The action starts early, it
is intense, and it carries on throughout.

There has been
speculation leading in to this film that [REC]2 would have the
same relationship to the original film that Aliens has with Alien.
This speculation is correct. Though very definitely set in the same
world as the original, this picture functions in many ways according the
rules of a completely different genre. The first was about fear,
legitimate fear of what was happening. This one is far more about
adrenaline, about the rush of the creators feeding you more of what you
already expect while then turning some unexpected corners to keep things
fresh.

On the expectation side they first find a completely
plausible method of maintaining the first person perspective so integral
to the original, a perspective that they employ with ruthless
efficiency to keep the audience at the edge of their seats, seats
they'll jump out of often as creatures come hurtling out of the dark.
They also deliver the vicious kill sequences that fans demand. On the
fresh elements side, without giving too much away, people will no longer
be referring to the [REC] pictures purely as zombie films once
they come to the end of this.

The great weakness of [REC]2
is that, thanks to the immediate jump into action, there really are no
memorable characters, nobody to really connect or empathize with. The
SWAT squad is largely interchangeable and that anonymity limits the
effectiveness of the terror. If you can't connect with people, you feel
no urgency on their behalf. As it stands the film is already an
effective adrenaline rush but with a bit more time to let the characters
grow and engage that adrenaline could have been bolstered with some
genuine emotion.

Netflix is constantly growing in Latin America, and while in Mexico the catalog is still nowhere as big as the North American one, several hotly anticipated TV series, such as Better Call Saul and House of Cards, are greatly helping in order to have more Mexican users. Now Netflix has...
More »

Socrates said, "Know thyself." A more contemporary philosopher from Oklahoma offered, "If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging." Reading many business stories about Hollywood lately, it quickly becomes apparent that few have embraced either the Athenian master or the fine, folksy wisdom of Will Rogers. How else to...
More »

Hollywood's annual pageant of nice dresses and the complex madness of John Travolta went off pretty much as expected - a few less for American Sniper than perhaps I cynically expected, and a few more for Birdman, which ain't Boyhood, but is an off-model enough Best Picture that I can't...
More »

Film Comment Selects, Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual film series that showcases the best films from all corners of the world selected by folks at Film Comment magazine, marks the arrival of spring for New York cinephiles in an otherwise dreadful February/March movie season. This year's selections are as...
More »

"Documentary Fortnight: MoMA's International Festival of Nonfiction Film and Media," which screens at the Museum of Modern Art through February 27, once again brings an impressive array of new films, retrospectives, and installations to New York audiences. Two masters of documentary, Stanley Nelson and Barbara Kopple, open and close the...
More »